Enabling Small Holders to Produce Nutritious Food through Agroforestry in Odisha State- A Case Study

Natural calamities take toll on food grain production from year to year, especially in the eastern state of India, Odisha, which very often leads to food and nutritional insecurity, and irregular and unstable incomes of the communities. Farmers need to diversify agriculture production by growing climate resilient crop and tree species which provide a safety net against climatic uncertainty and provide additional and nutritive food. The project in Odisha uses the SMART protocol approach which advocates a gradual transition and transformation of “purely field crop agriculture” to “agroforestry-based livelihood systems” to improve availability of food, fresh fruits, fodder and vegetables. The project team introduced agroforestry systems to the rural farming communities in such a way that they increase production diverse and nutritive food round the year. It is also working with them to enhance their understanding about benefits of producing and consuming nutritious food. The paper presents a case study from the implementation of the large scale agroforestry project working with small holder farmers.

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